Chapter 4: Chapter 4 – I Want to Use My Fists

The crescent moon leered at me from above as if mocking my efforts.

Shizuka and I were halfway to our destination but it wouldn’t be six hours until the sun rose. All things considered, we were making pretty damn good progress.

But we just had to run into these damn wolves.

The white-grey fuckers weren’t strong at all, but they were hella annoying!

They were called Dire Wolves, and as far as I could tell, they didn’t have any specific weak points. I even tried punching one in the snout.

“Gah! Why is a trash mob giving me so much shit!?”

Shizuka scoffed. She had long been finished killing the rest of the wolves that intercepted us and was watching me duel this last wolf with great disinterest.

“Probably because you refuse to use your sword? It’s called Sword Art Online. Why aren’t you using your sword, Akira?”

“B-Because I got this game to train my martial arts! If I just used my sword, that’d defeat the purpose!”

“Yeah, and we’re gonna be here all night if you keep ‘training’ your martial arts.”

Well, I hate to admit it, but she was fuckin’ right. Although the wolf couldn’t land a hit on me, all of my attacks were barely dealing any damage. 

Since I didn’t have the «Martial Arts» skill, I wasn’t able to use what the game called “Sword Skills” in order to enhance the power of my attacks. 

I don’t know why unarmed skills or even throwing skills are called Sword Skills, but I guess it was just easier for the developers.

I suppose they were better termed as “Combat Skills”, but seeing as Sword Art Online supposedly has an unlimited amount of skills, having a catch-all term like Sword Skills made it easier to classify things.

For example, “«One-Handed Sword»” was a Weapon Skill whereas “«Uppercut»” was a Sword Skill. While Weapon Skills increased your passive damage and allowed you to unlock more Sword Skills, Sword Skills themselves were more akin to “active skills” in a traditional MMO.

It was unfortunate then, that—other than the strength stat—the «Martial Arts» skill was the only thing that made unarmed damage scale. Without it, my unarmed damage was pitiful and I couldn’t unlock any unarmed Sword Skills regardless of how skilled I was.

No matter how strong I was in the real world, here in Aincrad, the only thing that mattered were your stats and skill levels.

“Fine, fine! I’ll use the sword, okay!?”

I disengaged from the wolf and then drew my sword. The sound of virtual steel rasping against the virtual leather of my scabbard was actually rather realistic.

I brought my blade up as the wolf leapt toward me. My eyes approximated its trajectory in an instant as I assumed a stance, positioning my sword as if I was resting it against my shoulder.

The weapon glowed a bright blue as it recognized the activation of a Sword Skill. A second later, my sword flashed downward in a straight line, intercepting the wolf in mid-air as it met my blade.

Just as I had predicted.

Honestly, I was still getting used to the feeling of activating Sword Skills. They were helpful and inflicted far more damage than a normal swing of the sword, not to mention the fact that the system’s assistance allowed me to attack at a much faster rate than normal.

But actually using one still felt strange and awkward to me.

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t wielded swords before. Back before I became a karateka, I’d dabbled in several martial arts before. Kenjutsu was one of them. 

Even so, the speed at which Sword Skills allowed me to swing my weapon was both incredible and disorienting.

Whenever I activated a Sword Skill, I was forced to “ride” the system, so to speak. I was nothing more than a passenger in my own body, and once a Sword Skill was activated, it couldn’t be stopped.

I didn’t like it. My body moved faster than it should have and I felt painfully vulnerable as the system locked my body into the motion. 

The worst part was the Post-Motion. After the Sword Skill completed, my body was locked into a fixed position for a few fractions of a second.

It was the most jarring part of the experience even though it was the briefest, but having total loss over my motor functions was terrifying to say the least.

I could only pray that the Sword Skills for «Martial Arts» felt smoother to execute.

Still, there was no point in worrying about that right now. We were still a long way off from Floor 2.

“That was «Vertical», right?” Shizuka asked as the Dire Wolf shattered into thousands of prismatic polygons before vanishing into thin air.

“Look at you, already memorizing Sword Skills when we’ve just started playing a few hours ago.”

“Of course! Information’s the most important thing in an MMO, you know! And speaking of information, I’d have to wonder why you chose «Vertical» of all skills there.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, wouldn’t «Horizontal» be a better choice when it’s jumping at you like that?”

I blinked, taking a moment to understand what she was getting at. She was entirely right. If the wolf had just twisted to the side, my Sword Skill would’ve missed. 

Not only that, but since it locked me in the motion, I would have no choice but to tank the wolf’s attack since I wouldn’t be able to dodge like I normally would’ve.

So why didn’t I use «Horizontal» instead of «Vertical»? Well, honestly, I just never considered the possibility that I would miss.

Was I overconfident? Maybe a little. But even so, my combat experience in the real world told me exactly what I needed to know. Even before the wolf started its jump, I could tell its direction and line of travel based on its preparatory movements.

I guess you could call it something like «Precognition» born from real experience fighting.

Still, it was a shame that Shizuka never got into martial arts back in the real world. With intuition and analytical abilities like that, she’d be one hell of a force to reckon with.

“Even if you knew how it was going to attack, you should still be more careful!” Shizuka scolded me after my explanation. “There aren’t any respawns in this game, you know...”

I nodded as I was reminded of how death was really just around the corner. At my current level, if the wolf had actually dodged and landed a hit on me, it probably would’ve taken out around 40% of my health bar.

In any other MMO, I would’ve been fine with that. I mean, I would still have 60% of my HP left. That was over half.

However, it was much different here in SAO. Instead of saying that my HP was a little over half, it was far more accurate to say that I was almost halfway dead.

That thought alone sent a chill running through my spine. My gaze fell to the dirt path beneath me.

“Thanks for worrying, Shizuka.”

She squeezed my forearm. “I’m glad I managed to find you, Akira... I hope the others are alright too.”

I found comfort in her warm touch. “Yeah... Me too.”

After dealing with my little post-battle tristesse, Shizuka and I continued making pretty good progress toward Horunka, the village that Jin had sent us the coordinates to after I spammed him as promised.

While we were around midway to our destination, Jin sent me a message saying that he had an “epic surprise” waiting for us there, so we quickened our pace and took a few shortcuts that slightly diverged from the safe route that we were given.

Fortunately for the two of us, the only other interruptions we ran into for the rest of the journey were more wolves and a few boars. Those skirmishes went a lot quicker now that I was using my sword, much to my chagrin.

Thanks to that, we arrived a little before schedule. Looking around, I could see that Horunka barely qualified as a village. It consisted of ten buildings in total, with only seven of them being NPC residences. The other three buildings were an inn, a weapon shop, and a tool shop.

Shizuka and I took a quick walk through the town as we waited for Jin to meet up with us. I didn’t really think much of relaxing after learning that I’d been trapped in a death game, but seeing a bunch of fishing rods in the tool shop gave me second thoughts.

Fishing might’ve been boring, but it was a pastime that I and the other karate club members had shared in our summer training camp the previous year. By the end of it, the hobby had grown on me, but only a smidgen.

We finished a circle around the village before a familiar voice called out to me.

“Yo! Akira!”

“Glad to see you’re still alive, Jin.”

“Hah! Of course! And I see you’ve got yourself a hot new lady friend while I was gone.”

In his absence, Jin had picked up a shield, a new sword, and gained a few levels. He was around five levels higher than us, meaning that there were probably a few mobs around here that gave a great deal more EXP than the wolves and boars that we’d been fighting.

“This is Shi—” I stopped myself, realizing that I might’ve committed a taboo by finishing my attempt at an introduction.

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Although I called her Shizuka, her actual name in the game was far from similar. Here in Sword Art Online, “Shizuka” went by “Hinotori.” 

Personally, I thought the word for “phoenix” was a huge jinx now that the true nature of Sword Art Online was revealed to us, but there wasn’t a way to change her name anymore.

Well, whatever. It’s just a name, right?

I cleared my throat before trying again. “This is Hinotori. She’s a friend of mine.”

Shizuka, or rather, Hinotori gave Jin a short bow and a polite greeting which was quite fitting for her ladylike upbringing.

Jin nodded several times before responding. “So this is the cute girl that you were talking about, huh?”

“Huh!? He called me cute!?” Shizuka stared at me, her expression an amalgamation of surprise and excitement. “No fair! I wasn’t there!”

“Gah!” I blushed immediately. I mean, there was no doubt in my mind that Shizuka was unbelievably cute. I’d known that since the very first moment I met her.

Normally, calling her cute wouldn’t have been something that embarrassed me. Hell, I probably could’ve said it right to her face if the mood was right for it. But for some reason, I felt incredibly embarrassed right now.

Maybe it was the fact that I’d complimented her while she was absent, but it was far more likely that her overly excited and somewhat aggressive behavior right now was the cause. 

If I’d known that she would react like this, I probably wouldn’t have said anything to Jin.

“Hate to break it to ya man, but she ain’t my type.”

Both Shizuka and I turned to Jin, our mouths agape. Shizuka recovered first.

“W-What makes you think you’re my type, huh!?”

“What hell man!? The only thing that matters is that she’s my type!”

Shizuka’s gaze now swung to me and I quickly realized that I had made a huge mistake. I’d blurted that out in the spur of the moment, but it pretty much amounted to a confession.

Gaaaah! Akira, you fucking idiot!

While I mentally berated myself and steeled my heart for the now-blushing Shizuka’s next words, Jin let out a bout of uproarious laughter.

“Hey, wanna say that again?” 

Although Shizuka’s face was flushed, she was wearing her signature mischievous grin which meant that it was probably not a good idea to listen to her suggestion.

“Alright, you lovebirds. Y’all can do your little skit in the inn later tonight, but if we don’t hurry up we’re gonna miss that surprise I had for the two of you.”

Both Shizuka and I paused. I don’t know about her, but I for one was relieved that Jin had interrupted us. I turned my attention to him, glad that Shizuka had sensed her loss of momentum and conceded.

Jin explained that he’d acquired his new sword from a quest in this very village. It was called an Anneal Blade and was regarded as a great weapon for low-leveled players who were just starting out due to its high enhancement potential coupled with a low stat requirement.

There was only going to be one Anneal Blade that would be rewarded to us even though we were in a party, but I didn’t really care. I was planning on switching right back to my fists the second I managed to get my hands on the «Martial Arts» skill.

More importantly though, it was a quest reward and the quest had a cooldown period of 24 hours, meaning that other players couldn’t accept the quest until those 24 hours were up.

As a result, there were quite a lot of players that were competing to finish the quest before others could, especially among beta testers and their friends.

Luckily for us, Jin was the last person to have completed it and he had been keeping track of the time for us. In around five minutes, the quest cooldown would be reset.

“Alright! It’s just inside here!” Jin announced as we stopped in front of a two-storey building. It was a humble residence which was supposed to house a female NPC and her daughter. Quaint as it might look from the exterior, it was probably pretty cozy on the inside.

Jin gestured for us to step inside seeing as the quest would trigger for the first person who entered. I ended up getting elected as the party leader, so I started forward.

Before I even finished taking my first step, I was cut off by a blazing flame. More accurately, I was cut off by a girl whose hair was like a blazing flame.

Her long wavy hair hung low, just above the small of her back. When she moved, it fluttered behind her like a bonfire, and its crimson color was as mesmerizing as the setting sun.

Not even the beginner gear that she was wearing put a damper to her striking looks. I didn’t catch much of a glimpse of her face, but she was definitely a beauty. Her features were sharp and her gaze was determined. It was a type of beauty that was in stark contrast to Shizuka’s graceful elegance.

Even so, that didn’t excuse her from rudely barging into the house and taking the quest from us.

“Hey, asshole! What gives!?”

The girl whirled around to stare at me, her eyes were a dull charcoal in comparison to her dazzling hair.

My eyes were drawn to the name which floated above her head along with the green cursor that appeared whenever I focused on a player: “Tenzuki.” It was a portmanteau of the words for “heaven” and “moon.”

Normally, names weren’t visible by default if the person wasn’t a member of your party, but it looked like there was a way to change that in the settings. Why she would ever do that, I don’t know, but it left me with a single thought:

What an edgy name.

Instead of replying to me, she promptly slammed the door shut. Goddamn bitch.

I sighed and stepped away from the door, rubbing the bridge of my nose in annoyance. I wasn’t the only one who was upset. Shizuka’s cheeks were puffed out in anger and Jin slammed his fist on the closed door, shouting a slew of profanities.

“I’m really sorry about this.” Jin started after we’d moved to the village center.

I shrugged. There wasn’t really any point in being upset about it anymore. The girl had already taken the quest the moment she stepped inside, meaning that it wouldn’t be available for the next 24 hours no matter what.

“Where did she even come from!?” Shizuka complained, stomping her foot against the ground. It was a motion that was supposed to accentuate her anger, but I thought it was kind of charming.

“Sorry. If only I was a little faster we would’ve got it.”

“Hmph! It’s not your fault at all, Akira! That weirdo just popped out of nowhere!”

While I tried my best to defuse Shizuka’s anger, Jin had fallen silent and became lost in thought. He rubbed his chin in deep contemplation, and I was suddenly struck with a burning desire to know what put such an intense look of deliberation on his face.

I placated Shizuka’s latest complaint about the girl’s “obnoxiously red hair” before approaching Jin.

“You all good there, buddy?”

There was a long pause before Jin finally answered me. “I’m just wondering if there’s a way I can make it up to y’all. I mean, I made you two come all the way over here for fuck all.”

I didn’t really blame Jin, but he seemed to be taking it pretty hard on himself. Maybe it was his pride as a beta tester or just as a fellow gamer. Either way, I didn’t want him to keep beating himself up.

“It’s fine, dude. We can just grind a bunch of mobs ‘till we’re tired and call it a day. Besides, it’s not like this is the only quest in the game.”

As I finished my sentence, Jin’s eyes suddenly widened as if he had an earthshaking revelation.

“Holy shit! You’re a genius, Akira! Gimme a sec, I know just the thing to fix this whole mess!”

“Okay...?” I wanted to ask about what kind of “genius” idea I’d just given him, but seeing as he opened his menu up in front of me and started typing furiously, I elected to just leave him to his business.

While Shizuka and I weren’t exactly running out of things to talk about as Jin remained glued to his menu’s messaging screen, the scenery was getting a bit drab. 

We ended up taking a stroll through the town again, going through the weapon shop and looking for anything that she fancied.

 “So, what were you and Jin talking about anyway?”

I shrugged. “He was taking it all on himself so I tried to tell him that everything was fine but he called me a genius outta nowhere and then started going crazy over his menu.”

“Well, it seems like he’s putting a lot of effort into whatever he’s doing so I’m sure it’ll be good.”

I opened my mouth to voice my agreement, but the door swung open at that very moment.

“Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be good,” Jin’s voice came from the entrance of the shop. “She’s coming in fifteen.”

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